Everybody Likes a Nice Handknit Sweater

Here is the progress on Jon's Sweater, a sweater for my husband which is pretty much all stockinette stitch and thus not too much to show.  Truly a labor of love!

                                                                     

  However, here is something that you won't see every day:

Yes, Shetland Ponies wearing Fairisle sweaters!  Saw this on Knit Pick's Facebook page and if you want to see more check out this Scottish website here.   Wouldn't these be a great addition to Kristin Nicholas' farm?  I could see her making them all kinds of cute sweaters!

My friend Jocelyn designs socks and shawls and is currently having a sale here.  If you see anything you like, just type in FNFSALE in the code box and get 20% off.   I bought the Mesquite Flat sock pattern which is made with sport weight yarn and should be a nice break from the usual smaller needles and sock yarn.  Going to look for yarn for these at the Handwerks booth (#1336)  at Stitches which is coming up the end of February  in Santa Clara.

                                                                             

                                                                 

My Ruffled Scarf and On to Something New

Finished my Ruffled and Ruched Scarf by Pam Powers  and I'm pleased with how it turned out:

                                                                             

Pam knit hers in Malabrigo worsted but I did this in Cascade 220 Heathers.  This was an easy project and I think it would make great gift knitting.

Here's a few more pictures as I went along:

God Bless Downton Abbey; I am getting alot of knitting done!  Here are the socks I have been knitting for my husband for what seems like forever:

                                                                       

   These are made with Austermann Step, the yarn with Aloe Vera.  Very warm and soft!


My next project is a sweater for my husband, and after hours looking at patterns for men, I found one that I think he will really like.  It's called Jon's Sweater by Sarah Wilson  from the Interweave Fall 2012 issue.  It's a pretty plain sweater, just the way most men like it, however, the front has an interesting design:

                                                                         
    I'm using yarn from my stash that I have been holding on to for the perfect project for him.  It's Filatura  Di Crosa's Adhoc:

Happy Fiber Arts Friday and enjoy your weekend!  

                                                                                                                                                 

In Which I Take Part in a KAL

Haven't been much for taking part in these KALs that everyone is talking about; either I'm not organized enough (pattern and yarn at the ready) or the thought of having to actually knit and finish something in a specific time frame was too much for me to take on. Ask me about knitting a sweater as a gift for someone for Christmas!  However, the 2 Knit Lit Chicks are having a Kardigan KAL starting February 1st and I am here to tell you that I am ready!  Yes, a whole two weeks ahead of time!  Awhile back I talked about Elizabeth Doherty's beautiful Meris cardigan and this is going to be my project:

                                                                           

    I'm going to use Quince and Co's Finch in a beautiful green color called Lichen which is the yarn used for the sample in a color called Sorbet.  In the meantime, there are a few other things on the needles that need my attention, such as finishing a second Reykjavik mitten:

I liked the first pair so much I had to do a second pair for myself.  Then there's the matter of finishing the second Austerman Step sock for my husband:

                                                                           

Happy Fiber Arts Friday everyone!  Check out what others have been up to.





                                                                                                                                                            

The Yarniacs and more from our Retreat

So many great pictures from our retreat weekend, I just had to post a few more.  Many of us start the weekend with a yarn crawl in the Santa Cruz area which is home to a very active knitting community and some very nice yarn shops, including the Swift Stitch.   This is a really nice shop with an interesting range of yarns and the very knowledgeable Sharlene and Gayle of The Yarniacs podcast hang out there.  We stopped by to see them:

                                                                                 

                                                                                   

Here's Sharlene in her version of the Gaptastic cowl:

Stopped by Yarns by the Sea in Aptos.   They are in the back of a small shopping mall, but this sign ensures that you won't miss them!

   

 
This shop has a really nice welcoming feel to it and was very busy the day we were there.  It seems very popular with the locals.

Here's what I've been working on:

               
Another pair of Reykjavik mittens knit with Brown Sheep's Nature Spun.  I just love these little houses!                                                    

                                                                   

       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

A Laura Aylor Giveaway

Laura Aylor is a very talented designer and a few posts back I talked about starting her very popular Lizard Ridge Afghan using Noro's Kureyon:

                                                                                 

This weekend, in celebration of her birthday, Laura is offering knitters a chance to choose one of her patterns for free!  Go to her website to get all the details; this offer ends on Monday January 14th.

I chose the Oak Park scarf which is part of a series she has designed in honor of Frank Lloyd Wright:

This was knit in madelinetosh and I would love to make mine with this  as well.  There are so many great color choices!

Finishing up my Ruffled and Ruched scarf; just have to put my rose together.  Here are some pictures that I took as I went along:

   

Have a great weekend everyone - the sun is shining here and I'm going for a walk!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Knitting At the Retreat

Last weekend was the annual retreat for South Bay Knitters (that's south of SF Bay for those not in Northern California) which is  held in the Santa Cruz mountains and always held the first weekend after New Year's,  pretty much insuring damp, cold misty weather and the wearing of lots of wooly warm sweaters, socks and shawls.  It's just our cup of tea!  Speaking of,  there was lots of talk about Downton Abbey and anticipation of the start of the third season and, if I say so myself,  it did not disappoint!  Mary looked lovely in her wedding gown and it was fun to see Shirley McLaine in the cast.

Here's a picture of our cast of characters:

It's amazing how we manage to knit all weekend and never get bored.  Lots of good company and always someone to help with a problem project:

                                                                           

We swapped yarn and patterns and Lisa brought homemade soap and jam:

                                                                           

 Of course there was lots of beautiful knitting to admire.  Here's Jocelyn in her Mavis sweater made with Noro Silk Garden:

   

Here's Donna in her beautiful Aristida shawl made with Cascade Pima cotton:

Marina knit this gorgeous sweater called The Rayleigh Tee and these pictures don't do justice to all the interesting details:

                                                                         

                                                                               

               

     

   More pictures and some yarn crawling to talk about in a future post but for now it's back to my retreat project, the Ruffled and Ruched Scarf by Pam Powers:

                                                                       

Isn't this a beauty?  Execept for the provisional cast on it's just garter and stockinette;  a perfect mindless knitting project when you are spending more time talking and less time keeping an eye on what you are working on.  I'm almost done and here's a picture where I picked up the provisional cast on stitches and starting knitting in the other direction:

                                                                           

     The sample project was knit in Malabrigo but I am knitting this with Cascade 220 Heathers.

Have a good week and  check out Tami's blog to see what others are working on this week.  

                                                               
                                                                               
                                                       


                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Mittens and a Super Quick Scarf

Happy New Year to all and I hope everyone got to get some fun knitting projects done in between celebrating the holidays with family and friends. I'm happy to report that I did just that and finished a pair of Kirsten Kapur's Reykjavik mittens in the last few days:

                                                                                 

I made these with Shibui's DK Baby Alpaca and it was a delight working with this yarn - so soft!

We got to spend Christmas with all our kids and grandchildren this year, which was really special.  Lots of presents to open:

                                                                                   

Including some special ones for me.  This is Kaffe Fassett's Autobiography:

                                                               

   
Fascinating to read, especially since I have been to his family's restaurant, Nepenthe, at Big Sur and he goes into a lot of detail about growing up in that area in the 50's and 60's.

I also got this lovely needle case by Latern Moon.  Very special and I love this deep burgundy color:

                                                                                                                                                                                                           


I also got these project bags from Namaste; very nice and no more Target plastic bags for my projects!

                                                                                 
                                                                                

Thanks to my wonderful daughters for these great Christmas presents!

Then the day after Christmas the fun continued as the three of us set off for our favorite yarn shop in Denver, Lamb Shoppe.  We spent a couple of hours sipping coffee, checking out their new yarns and my younger daughter, looking for a knitting project with instant gratification, bought a skein of  Berroco's Link to make a quick scarf before she left town to head back to LA.  This scarf calls for one skein of Link and the directions for the scarf are on the ball band. Using size 50 needles, she had almost half of it done before we left the shop and finished it that night.  So cute!

                                                                                 


Looking forward to another year of great knitting and seeing what you all accomplish!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!  Check out what others are doing on Andrea's blog.